CNN’s Carlson Heads to PBS

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Tucker Carlson, Cable News Network’s conservative Crossfire pundit, will host a prime-time half-hour weekly public-affairs series on PBS starting in June.

The show will be produced by WETA-TV Washington, D.C. The station already produces public-affairs series Washington Week and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Is this a strategy to provide a conservative counterpoint to series Now with Bill Moyers, which has come under fire from the right? "PBS seeks to provide a broad spectrum of views, and Tucker Carlson will add to that diversity," said Lea Sloan, vice president of media relations for PBS.

Sloan also pointed out that the show has been in the works for a long time and was among a number of pilots considered.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.